Zhuzhou Aite Cemented Carbide Co., Ltd

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The Advantages for Carbide Waterjet Cutting

1. Extreme Wear Resistance in the Jet Stream
   Tungsten-carbide mixing tubes and nozzles survive the 900 m/s slurry of water and 80-mesh garnet that would erode steel parts within minutes. Carbide’s 1600–1800 HV hardness keeps the orifice round and the jet collimated, giving weeks of stable cut quality instead of hours of taper drift.
   
   
   
2. Cold Cut, Crack-Free Carbide Blanks
   Sintered tungsten-carbide parts are brittle; a 300 °C heat spike from EDM or grinding can initiate micro-cracks. Waterjet erodes material below 50 °C, so even 20 mm wear plates or 1 mm PCB drills exit the tank without thermal damage or residual tensile stress.
   
   
   
3. Net-Shape Geometry, Zero Post-Grind
   With 5-axis heads and 0.05 mm repeatability, the jet can rough-mill chip-breaker slots, coolant holes and back-taper in carbide inserts in a single pass. Users report 0.15 mm profile accuracy and Ra 1.6 µm edge finish, eliminating pre-sinter machining and 30 % of diamond-wheel grinding time.
   
   
   
   
   
4. Narrow Kerf, High Yield of Expensive Powder Metal
   A 0.8 mm kerf removes only 6 % of the blank compared with 2.5 mm for wire-EDM. On a 250 mm tungsten-carbide round, that saves 60 g of raw powder per slice—worth USD 50 at today’s carbide prices—while still cutting 12 mm thick sections in one pass.
   
   
   
5. Abrasive Flexibility for Speed vs. Finish
   Switching from garnet to 60-mesh silicon-carbide boosts removal rate 25 % on ultra-hard WC-Co grades, then dropping to 120-mesh restores mirror-edge quality for finishing cuts. Carbide nozzles withstand the harder SiC particles without the 90 % life loss seen in steel tubes.
   
   
   
   
   
6. Eco-Safe, Recyclable Swarf
   The spent slurry contains only tungsten grit and inert garnet—no cobalt leachate or grinding oil. Vacuum filter presses recover 95 % of the water and trap the carbide particles for scrap recycling, keeping the process REACH-compliant and workshop-clean.
   
   
   
7. Lights-Out Productivity
   Carbide wear parts last 80–120 h between changes, so one robot-tended waterjet can slice 500 inserts per shift unmanned. Compared with slow EDM or costly diamond grinding, total lead time drops from 48 h to 6 h, turning powder into finished tools within the same day.